NAU Faculty Senate
Meeting Quick Notes
October 5, 2015
From notes taken by Susan Harris (FS Secretary) and Kate Ellis (FS Vice President). These are "quick notes." For
detailed minutes, check the Senate BbLearn shell after the next meeting.
Announcements
 NAU is preparing for its university wide accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission (HCL). Jeff
Rosen, Vice President for Accreditation Relations and Director of the Open Pathway at the HLC, will be at
NAU for meetings with various campus groups on December 3rd at the 1899 Ballroom. This is an excellent
opportunity to learn more about our accreditation process and to ask Dr. Rosen any questions you may
have.
 Dr. David Brumbaugh is this year’s Homecoming Dedicatee.
 Open Enrollment of Employee Benefits will begin October 26th and close November 13th.
 ABOR President Eileen Klein will be at the December 7th Senate meeting to discuss the roles of the
University and ABOR, including the Enterprise model.
President Cheng’s Report
President Cheng commented on the following:
 Her office is looking at laying out a new strategy for resources in the next legislative session. They have
developed a simpler strategy that is connected to the language of the Arizona Constitution, asking the
legislature to fund the universities based on resident students, to be as nearly free as possible. Hoping
that over a period of years we would get to a point where state funding covered 50% of the cost of
educating an in state student. The model also includes more regularization of capital funding for the
universities.
 She is also working with the other presidents on requests to the legislature to restore some of the budget
cuts from earlier this year, based on the state budget surplus announced recently.
 The campus visioning process is moving forward. This will be a “refreshing” of the Strategic Plan. A survey
has been distributed and focus groups are set to convene soon.
 She has created a Strategic Planning subcommittee of the cabinet under the strategic planning and budget
council of the cabinet. This subcommittee will work to evaluate budget planning.
 Two searches are underway: the Vice Provost for the Center for International Education and a new Chief
Information Officer. Faculty Senate members serve on each search committee.
 She has put together a small group for the purpose of informing campus about how the IT reorganization is
being rolled out.
Provost Coleman
Provost Coleman spoke to the following:
 He has started his tour of departments, units, and centers with two goals in mind: to learn what they do
and what they are proud of and what their expectations are of him and his office moving forward.
 He noted that most public institutions face the same challenges of more students and less money. The
historical context of each institution is what adds to who we are and how we frame our problems.
 There are roughly 30 tenure track searches under way spread out among five colleges (CAL, CEFNS, CHHS,
COE, and SBS). He is meeting with the Deans to discuss how to prioritize hires moving forward.
 He is working on how we evaluate deans, chairs, directors, and faculty.
 He was impressed by the ABOR meeting held at NAU. He was particularly impressed by the Regents’
concern for higher education.
 He congratulated those Senators and other Faculty who participated at the Friday breakfast with the
Regents. It was clear that faculty really care about our students and are committed to student success and
that the Regents recognize this.
Committee Reports
 Rights and Responsibilities Council presented a summary of the changes legal counsel made to the
revisions of the COFS document approved by the Senate last spring. These changes will be voted on next
month.
 Bylaws Committee Chair Eric Yordy presented the recommended changes to both the FS Constitution and
Bylaws. He noted that the changes to both documents are extensive and he presented them at the
meeting so Senators have ample time to read the documents and be prepared to discuss them moving
forward. A formal presentation of the changes to the Constitution will occur at the November 2nd meeting
which will include a request for a vote from the Senate to approve putting the Constitutional changes to a
vote of the full faculty in December. The Bylaws will be presented after the Constitution as those changes
are contingent on the passage of the Constitutional changes. Eric pointed out the potentially most
controversial items: a broader definition of faculty; the definition of who can serve on the Senate; the
composition of the Senate; the election process of the officers of the Senate and other key positions; and
the implementation of a bill and resolution process to better track Senate activities and decisions.
 Jason BeDuhn, Chair of the Liberal Studies Committee, answered questions regarding the Capstone
proposal. He will be vetting these changes through the college curriculum committees and will return to
the senate for a vote on the proposed changes. Jason’s video presentation can be found on the FS
BbLearn shell.
Presentations
 Matt Tantau, Chair of NAU’s United Way campaign, presented a brief overview of United Way’s
involvement in the community and NAU’s goals set forth for this year’s drive. NAU’s goal is $75,000 this
year; $27,000 was raised in August during the pace setter’s drive. You can donate on line at:
http://nau.edu/united-way/
 The consults for the Vice Provost for the Center International Education search process, Earl Kellogg and
Tom Wyly, asked for the credentials and characteristics Senators desire for the new Vice Provost. They
hope to have a candidate in place by this summer.
 Vice Provost Dan Kain was on hand to answer any questions Senators may have had regarding the
Exemplary Employee program. There were no questions. Two current and one former member of the
Faculty Senate are on a Task Force headed by Vice Provost Kain to review the program. The video of his
presentation can be seen on the FS BbLearn shell.